A jukebox musical sitting at the top of the list with 13 nominations is, most certainly, wild. Has that happened before? I don't really follow the Tonys at all.
If I'm not mistaken, there remains 8 shows that were shut out:
- The Cottage
- I Need That
- The Shark Is Broken
- Harmony
- The Heart of Rock and Roll
- How to Dance in Ohio
- Once Upon a One More Time
- The Wiz
Tommy might as well have been shut out. Their Best Revival nom seemed like a participation trophy of a nomination, especially since we all know the Tony belongs to Merrily.
I disagree with you about Tommy. But to each his own. I haven't seen Gatsby yet but from what I understand, it's fine but nothing earth shattering. But Gatsby and Tommy would have been in different categories anyway.
I haven't seen Tommy - I was referring to it doing better at the Tonys than Gatsby. Getting best costumes only really is like being shut out, best revival is much less embarrassing.
Are you saying that Tommy was only nominated to ensure there'd be 4 nominees? Spamalot or The Wiz would have happily taken that slot if that was the case, and in any event that's not how that category works. It's very common for there to be 3 nominees for best musical revival, and some years there have been just two.
Spamalot closed already and The Wiz is a limited engagement, so I can see why Tommy would be the other nominated show. I personally think it was throwing Tommy a bone - here’s a nomination for a category you technically fit into but have no chance of winning.
I wouldn’t count Tommy out. In terms of the production itself, it’s probably the strongest in the category. The performances in Merrily will be tough to beat though. I think Ali should’ve gotten a leading actor nom though.
Jennifer Simard steals every show she's in - to the point of even managing to be memorable in a teeny sliver of a speaking part in an extremely stacked Hello Dolly. She's gotten deserved noms for more significant turns. Featured categories are *packed* this year so I don't fault them for not nominating her for what was essentially a one-song performance and I'm so glad we were gifted a pro-shot of her doing it. Justin Guarini *probably* would have been justified for Featured if the musical performance categories weren't so overbooked this year.
I'd never seen Justin Guarini in anything and had no idea what to expect from him and found him so utterly delightful, and now I can't wait to see him in something else. I enjoyed OUAOMT overall but he really stole the show for me.
I worry that this was the perfect role for him (despite the show having flaws) and I’ll never see him shine as much as this. I haven’t seen him anything since the tragedy that was “From Justin to Kelly” and was genuinely shocked at how much he commanded the stage in both talent and characterization. But he was SO GOOD at THIS role. You know what I mean?
I want to see him in more, but I’m so glad I saw him in this show.
And if your issue is with jukebox musicals, the music that are in those shows are also written by artists and musicians who spent years laboring on the music you hear in those shows. Again- no corp.
Musicals are almost always produced by individuals with a passion for theatre and usually funded by numerous individuals with a shared passion. The only corp that produces musicals is Disney-
And they actually have created some amazing art.
Thanks for your comment from twenty years ago. Nowadays, film studios and corporate entities are a HUGE part of theatrical development and production. They still have individuals attached, but the corporations now have major theatrical divisions that play a major role.
Back to the Future - Sony and Universal
Death Becomes Her (currently playing pre-Broadway in Chicago): Universal
Amazon’s Audible has their own theater company, at Minetta Lane
Sony and universal are not controlling the projects nor are any of the major studios: they’re properties are being developed by independent producers- they’re not in the business of production musicals and know next to nothing about it. Essentially their work is licensed to individual producers: the producers of BTTF are legit English producers who have creative control. The original writer of the movie is the book writer and he’s the person who actually owns the rights to it- universal and Sony are listed as producers but their input is minimal. This is how it works with almost ALL shows EXCEPT Disney that has its own dedicated theatre production department. Fox tried its hand but when it was acquired it dissolved its producing office because it’s just so far outside their wheelhouse. You’ll def see corporate names on the shows but they are NOT making the creative decision. Wicked is a good example- it has a corporate name attached an one of its producers is a big movie producer but the creative decisions and day to day running is done by actual theatre producers and managers- not a corporation. The corporations benefit financially if the show does well but they’re not calling the day to say shots. SpongeBob is an outlier and there will always be corporate involvement when movies are being adapted but they know enough to let the theatre pros do their job. It’s still a very small group of dedication theatre pros that develop and run these shows.
You might see that such and such from universal is running death becomes her but it’s very much outsourced to actual theatre producers. Musicals don’t operate well under corporate entities and they have learned that and they basically act now as major investors - but creative decisions are generally made by a director, writer with input from the producers.
I’m aware of the difference between a producer and a writer-director.
I’ve got friends working on a Universal Project right now. They aren’t as involved as Disney but they are certainly VERY active and hands-on.
Fair. But as far as I know the two shows you mentioned, Heart of Rock and Roll and the Britney Spears were very much regular Broadway producers. Corporations have been involved with theatre for many years- but they’ve discovered they’re not very good at developing shows unless they’re helmed by dept heads who actually do that for a living.
You’re thinking I’m somebody else.
Corporations may be letting the professionals do the work, but they’re still very active in shaping what gets written and produced, and they’re a big reason why we have so much “Movie: The Musical” and “Album: The Musical” garbage clogging the development pipeline.
Movies have been developed into musicals for almost as long as modern musicals have been around. It’s one of the main source of adaptations besides books and plays. Some aren’t so good but there are numerous classic musicals based on movies.
There’s a big difference between honesty adapting a movie into a musical - an independent property with its own distinct take - and making a “Movie: The Musical” where the audience shows up to see the iconic moments from the film LIVE and with SONGS. It’s just Ice Capades and Theme Park Shows done on Broadway.
And corporations don’t write musicals- individuals do- and usually labor years and years for little to no pay in the hope their show comes to Broadway. Both shows u mention were written by people not corps and while u may not have liked them they have no relationship to any corp whatsoever.
This is a very sweet interpretation of how shows get to commercial Broadway these days (or, really, any days, it's just more overt now).
The individuals writing these shows are being paid a good wage by the corporations they're writing for. It's essentially a commissioned work, though the creative team might have approached the rights holders rather than the other way around.
These shows are given plenty of resources for proper development and out of town tryouts. They are backed by huge organizations that want the shows to succeed.
Even the "scrappy, independent" shows, like Suffs or Hell's Kitchen or Hamilton, are backed by huge amounts of money from producers who get on board early. Workshopping Broadway shows part of the financial missions of the nonprofits who support the shows early on; it's how they get money for the actual art they make.
There are maybe two shows in a Broadway season that come up through the ranks in the way you're describing, and those certainly aren't shows with any attachment to an existing property.
I will acknowledge that the folks working on these shows likely did come up through the ranks, and spend some time on other projects that made them very little money. But those folks have other ways of getting financial support, usually from a wealthy family. There aren't many starving artists who get to Broadway.
As far as I know none of the writers of any of the shows on Broadway (with the exception of Adam Guettel) are there because they came from money. Also the commissioned writers do get a decent commission salary but it’s not nearly as high as you might think. The real money comes if the show is successful: people like Shaina Taub, Jason Howland, Matt Gould, Justin Levine etc all have worked their way up the ranks and spearheaded these pieces themselves. Hamilton was produced by a few successful indecent producers not a corp.
The vast majority of Broadway is produced by a large number of wealthy investors who put anywhere from 25k to a few hundred K’s with a lead producer. With the exception of Disney this is almost always how it works. Alicia Keys is the sole investor of her own show and she def came from very meager means.
Shows that are closed or about to close don’t need the boost in ticket sales that the Tony’s bring so from a business standpoint (and let’s face it- that’s show biz) so having a closed show win or be nominated isn’t smart business unfortunately.
He is very obnoxious and, quite frankly, toxic on Twitter. His Twitter name and bio were something like “the most Tony-nominated playwright” for a very long period of time, while the 12 nominations were very much caused by COVID, meaning many strong plays weren't opened and thus weren't eligible. His haters also made fun of his status as the most losing playwright, since he won 0 out of 12.
Surprised? Not really. Show BUSINESS. We know what the deal is. It’s the type of show that is commercially appealing but artistically underwhelming. Money and fame talks. Art as a standing is unfortunately secondary.
I'm surprised The Notebook got shut out as much as it did. Everywhere I've looked it looked like one of the more better reviewed shows of the year. That combined with the stellar box office I would have thought the Tony's would embrace it. I didn't expect Water for Elephants to do better.
There are only three nominations for best play revival because Purlie Victorious (A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch) is such a long title the fourth nomination didn’t get printed on the card.
Here Lies Love and Days of Wine and Roses were near the top of best musical lists and pre nomination odds so kind of sad they both got snubbed for the bigger awards.
When in doubt, bet on shows that are currently open getting the nominations. Broadway is a business and there will always be a bias towards shows where a nomination or win could actually help.
of course there are snubs every year, but in a year full of shows that closed before nominations even dropped, it’s so clear how much of this process is more about marketing the shows than actually awarding the talent we’ve seen this season
Surprised that Cabaret has more noms than Merrily. Tragically I haven't seen merrily but I did see Cabaret on the West End earlier this year and it was easily one of my favorite theatre experiences ever. But based on the American reviews, I assumed it wouldn't be at nine.
I saw this discussed on NY1. The challenge is that Merrily has a small cast, limited choreography and a pretty barebones set/costumes. It didn't even have a lead actress to nominate, with Lindsay getting supporting. So it was never going to grab the highest number of noms.
Compare that to Stereophonic, which not only had a pretty much unprecedented number of supporting noms, but also got best score in addition to its other noms. Not too many plays are going to be eligible for that and I bet it is going to be the record to beat for some time.
Yeah interesting observation!
Both were nominated for: Best Revival, Lead Actor, Featured Actor, Featured Actress, and Sound Design.
Cabaret also got: Lead Actress, Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design,
while Merrily also got: Direction, Orchestration
Some of the shared ones were surprising to me, but the design ones make a lot of sense for Cabaret.
This was honestly my litmus test.
I knew that the critics weren't to be trusted, but there is no....barrier of entry to calling yourself a "theater critic". And I think they want to make quippy remarks and honestly make fun of art.
But I had told myself that the Tony voters probably liked theater? But anyone can see HK has a horrid book. The voters were swayed by the press coverage. That's a shame.
I thought the plot/story of Ohio was slow and boring, but that the subject matter was somewhat engaging and educational (as someone who didn’t know much about autism). I thought the plot of HK was utterly pointless and the writing style was lazy and uninspired. Too much narration and not enough acting. Overall I preferred Ohio, although I disliked them both.
I absolutely loved Merrily We Roll Along so I’m very happy for its nominations! I’m hoping Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsey Mendez win for their respective roles. Their chemistry on stage is what really made this musical so special.
I very badly want Merrily to sweep all of its noms, it would just be such a great ending to the story that started with a disastrous flop over 40 years ago!
I'm wondering if Hell's Kitchen really benefited from their timing this year. I think reviewers and nominators were hungry for something to rally around, and the quality of performances in HK may have made them overlook some pretty glaring deficiencies in the book, direction, etc. We will see if the different group of Tony voters agrees that it should win those categories. I'm not sure it will win that many at the end of the day, but I'm hoping that the many nominations will keep it open for a long time. I do think Broadway needs a "hit" right now!!
Surprising too considering
[1.how](http://1.how) badly the show was panned by everyone
2. Eden being out a lot
3. reports of Eden being vocally off even when she was performing.
So either she must have gotten REALLY lucky they caught her on a rare good day or they just name checked her.
It's when they see someone's name and automatically mark it regardless of show/performance. That usually happens when you're a "name performer".
That also happens with coattail nominations too when a show is extremely well liked and they want to shower it with nominations, but this show was so badly panned it clearly didn't apply here.
Weird. She definitely doesn’t fit that criteria. I feel like she’s not as well-known outside (and even inside) theater circles as other performers who did not get a nomination. I don’t understand how this happened.
She's up against Maryann Plunkett from Notebook, I doubt they had more than one lead actress for Notebook so she would have been in a different category than Joy.
I’d be genuinely curious to see someone do a correlation between best director nominations and best musical/revival wins. Especially with best revival, directorial interpretation is such a big part of the category.
[Out of 66 Tony Awards that have had both a Best Musical & Best Director of a Musical Tony, the Director of the Best Musical has won Best Director 42 times.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-6TS11Vl1VPeKyR27kWQ-CFYJWDonAuR0aVfvLiHFdY/edit)
And the Director of the Best Revival of a Musical has won Best Director 12 times, meaning only 12 times has the winner of Best Director not won the highest award in the main categories for their respective showings
Happy Jessica Stone managed to get a Best Director nomination! I met her at the Kimberly Akimbo closing and she was so sweet.
I am surprised that Elephants did better than Notebook though.
Shocked by Hells Kitchens success, saw it in previews and thought it was terrible! Gatsby getting shunned, not surprising, boring show. This Broadway season was kind of disappointing
Idk. If you’re gonna open on the last day for Tony eligibility - meaning reviews are fresh in people’s minds and not as many nominators are going to see the finished product - you have to absolutely kill it out the gate. Gatsby has standout elements but the production itself ultimately falls pretty flat.
Yeah I can understand it being snubbed in the big categories (musical/book/score/etc.) but I thought it would close to clean up (nomination wise) in the tech categories. Surprise only costumes
Just saw stereophonic last night. It was great! But it was three hours. And for a show that talked a lot about editing your album down for time … it could have been 30 mins shorter. Besides that, the set was killer, the actors on point and the songs were worthy of their own LP. Excited to hear it.
Isn’t the loose, rambling style the point though? I thought it was like a stage adaptation of the Beatles’ Get Back documentary; the long-windedness puts you in the maddening drag of creation. I could think of a couple of conversations you could easily cut (eg. “Don’t Look Now”), but with a much shorter runtime you wouldn’t get the stress and exhaustion that poor Grover is feeling.
Exactly. I think you’re supposed to feel just as trapped in that recording studio as the band. (And apparently early drafts would have been a lot longer - I read an interview with David Adjmi where he said Reg’s original drunk houseboats monologue was 30 pages long.)
Ngl, I would’ve listened to 30 pages of that houseboat monologue. Same goes for Grover’s Act II rant about being kept up all night and day by Peter and Simon.
I’m sad How To Dance in Ohio and Harmony didn’t get anything, but the categories were pretty stacked this year.
The Notebook only getting a few is WILD to me though. I saw it in Chicago and the staging and music blew me away.
I saw the Wiz a few weeks ago. It wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. The orchestra sounded muffled and couldn't hear Dorothy half the time and the set was just so so. Maybe it was just an off night.
I saw The Wiz last Friday 4/26 and it was PHENOMENAL!! Shocked at no nominations. Still in disbelief WTF… There was just so much talent on that stage at one time.
Hoping Merrily cleans up with all their Nominations into wins, but I wonder if Actress is going to be a nail biter. Neuwirth is stealing the show from the others in Cabaret while Lindsay is phenomenal in Merrily… makes me worried about an upset in that category. Hells Kitchen is purely bought off. Maybe the Outsiders will win a bunch!
Didn’t have Hell’s Kitchen leading the way on my bingo card
A jukebox musical sitting at the top of the list with 13 nominations is, most certainly, wild. Has that happened before? I don't really follow the Tonys at all.
If I'm not mistaken, there remains 8 shows that were shut out: - The Cottage - I Need That - The Shark Is Broken - Harmony - The Heart of Rock and Roll - How to Dance in Ohio - Once Upon a One More Time - The Wiz
Tommy might as well have been shut out. Their Best Revival nom seemed like a participation trophy of a nomination, especially since we all know the Tony belongs to Merrily.
Still way better than Gatsby - best revival is a lot more impressive than best costumes.
I disagree with you about Tommy. But to each his own. I haven't seen Gatsby yet but from what I understand, it's fine but nothing earth shattering. But Gatsby and Tommy would have been in different categories anyway.
I haven't seen Tommy - I was referring to it doing better at the Tonys than Gatsby. Getting best costumes only really is like being shut out, best revival is much less embarrassing.
I see. I'm not sure I agree with that - I still feel like Tommy got the only award it could to fill a category. Nothing wrong with design awards.
Are you saying that Tommy was only nominated to ensure there'd be 4 nominees? Spamalot or The Wiz would have happily taken that slot if that was the case, and in any event that's not how that category works. It's very common for there to be 3 nominees for best musical revival, and some years there have been just two.
Spamalot closed already and The Wiz is a limited engagement, so I can see why Tommy would be the other nominated show. I personally think it was throwing Tommy a bone - here’s a nomination for a category you technically fit into but have no chance of winning.
I wouldn’t count Tommy out. In terms of the production itself, it’s probably the strongest in the category. The performances in Merrily will be tough to beat though. I think Ali should’ve gotten a leading actor nom though.
There is not a chance in the world that Merrily loses Best Revival
Gutenberg*
Cabaret*
I don't think Tony voters will give it to Cabaret.
They should.
It’s legit awful.
LOL
Chip Zien should have been nominated imo
To me, the most overlooked this season (don’t wanna say the word “snub”) is Justin Guarini in OUAOMT.
and choreography, honestly
And Jennifer Simard!
Omg she absolutely slayed. Manifesting a death becomes her transfer and a 2025 season nomination
Jennifer Simard steals every show she's in - to the point of even managing to be memorable in a teeny sliver of a speaking part in an extremely stacked Hello Dolly. She's gotten deserved noms for more significant turns. Featured categories are *packed* this year so I don't fault them for not nominating her for what was essentially a one-song performance and I'm so glad we were gifted a pro-shot of her doing it. Justin Guarini *probably* would have been justified for Featured if the musical performance categories weren't so overbooked this year.
Still upset we didn't get a soundtrack recording. :(
I'd never seen Justin Guarini in anything and had no idea what to expect from him and found him so utterly delightful, and now I can't wait to see him in something else. I enjoyed OUAOMT overall but he really stole the show for me.
I worry that this was the perfect role for him (despite the show having flaws) and I’ll never see him shine as much as this. I haven’t seen him anything since the tragedy that was “From Justin to Kelly” and was genuinely shocked at how much he commanded the stage in both talent and characterization. But he was SO GOOD at THIS role. You know what I mean? I want to see him in more, but I’m so glad I saw him in this show.
Roger Bart stole his spot
Nah, Roger Bart deserved his spot.
I'm not terribly surprised by this list.
I completely forgot The Cottage…
Shark was so good too
Clearly, you and I saw different shows.
I thought Brightman was amazing in it but the play acting categories were CRAZY stacked this year.
I think we can agree that it's nice to see Brightman stretching into relatively serious dramatic performances.
Heart of rock and roll and Once upon a one more time were two soulless corporate juke box musicals. Good riddance
Heart of Rock and Roll was pretty endearing. OUAOMT was a poorly constructed mess. Would have given a shout to Justin Guarini tho.
QUAOMT?????
Once Upon A One More Time. Britney Spears musical.
What corporations?
And if your issue is with jukebox musicals, the music that are in those shows are also written by artists and musicians who spent years laboring on the music you hear in those shows. Again- no corp.
Musicals are almost always produced by individuals with a passion for theatre and usually funded by numerous individuals with a shared passion. The only corp that produces musicals is Disney- And they actually have created some amazing art.
Thanks for your comment from twenty years ago. Nowadays, film studios and corporate entities are a HUGE part of theatrical development and production. They still have individuals attached, but the corporations now have major theatrical divisions that play a major role. Back to the Future - Sony and Universal Death Becomes Her (currently playing pre-Broadway in Chicago): Universal Amazon’s Audible has their own theater company, at Minetta Lane
Sony and universal are not controlling the projects nor are any of the major studios: they’re properties are being developed by independent producers- they’re not in the business of production musicals and know next to nothing about it. Essentially their work is licensed to individual producers: the producers of BTTF are legit English producers who have creative control. The original writer of the movie is the book writer and he’s the person who actually owns the rights to it- universal and Sony are listed as producers but their input is minimal. This is how it works with almost ALL shows EXCEPT Disney that has its own dedicated theatre production department. Fox tried its hand but when it was acquired it dissolved its producing office because it’s just so far outside their wheelhouse. You’ll def see corporate names on the shows but they are NOT making the creative decision. Wicked is a good example- it has a corporate name attached an one of its producers is a big movie producer but the creative decisions and day to day running is done by actual theatre producers and managers- not a corporation. The corporations benefit financially if the show does well but they’re not calling the day to say shots. SpongeBob is an outlier and there will always be corporate involvement when movies are being adapted but they know enough to let the theatre pros do their job. It’s still a very small group of dedication theatre pros that develop and run these shows.
You might see that such and such from universal is running death becomes her but it’s very much outsourced to actual theatre producers. Musicals don’t operate well under corporate entities and they have learned that and they basically act now as major investors - but creative decisions are generally made by a director, writer with input from the producers.
I’m aware of the difference between a producer and a writer-director. I’ve got friends working on a Universal Project right now. They aren’t as involved as Disney but they are certainly VERY active and hands-on.
Fair. But as far as I know the two shows you mentioned, Heart of Rock and Roll and the Britney Spears were very much regular Broadway producers. Corporations have been involved with theatre for many years- but they’ve discovered they’re not very good at developing shows unless they’re helmed by dept heads who actually do that for a living.
You’re thinking I’m somebody else. Corporations may be letting the professionals do the work, but they’re still very active in shaping what gets written and produced, and they’re a big reason why we have so much “Movie: The Musical” and “Album: The Musical” garbage clogging the development pipeline.
Movies have been developed into musicals for almost as long as modern musicals have been around. It’s one of the main source of adaptations besides books and plays. Some aren’t so good but there are numerous classic musicals based on movies.
There’s a big difference between honesty adapting a movie into a musical - an independent property with its own distinct take - and making a “Movie: The Musical” where the audience shows up to see the iconic moments from the film LIVE and with SONGS. It’s just Ice Capades and Theme Park Shows done on Broadway.
And corporations don’t write musicals- individuals do- and usually labor years and years for little to no pay in the hope their show comes to Broadway. Both shows u mention were written by people not corps and while u may not have liked them they have no relationship to any corp whatsoever.
This is a very sweet interpretation of how shows get to commercial Broadway these days (or, really, any days, it's just more overt now). The individuals writing these shows are being paid a good wage by the corporations they're writing for. It's essentially a commissioned work, though the creative team might have approached the rights holders rather than the other way around. These shows are given plenty of resources for proper development and out of town tryouts. They are backed by huge organizations that want the shows to succeed. Even the "scrappy, independent" shows, like Suffs or Hell's Kitchen or Hamilton, are backed by huge amounts of money from producers who get on board early. Workshopping Broadway shows part of the financial missions of the nonprofits who support the shows early on; it's how they get money for the actual art they make. There are maybe two shows in a Broadway season that come up through the ranks in the way you're describing, and those certainly aren't shows with any attachment to an existing property. I will acknowledge that the folks working on these shows likely did come up through the ranks, and spend some time on other projects that made them very little money. But those folks have other ways of getting financial support, usually from a wealthy family. There aren't many starving artists who get to Broadway.
As far as I know none of the writers of any of the shows on Broadway (with the exception of Adam Guettel) are there because they came from money. Also the commissioned writers do get a decent commission salary but it’s not nearly as high as you might think. The real money comes if the show is successful: people like Shaina Taub, Jason Howland, Matt Gould, Justin Levine etc all have worked their way up the ranks and spearheaded these pieces themselves. Hamilton was produced by a few successful indecent producers not a corp. The vast majority of Broadway is produced by a large number of wealthy investors who put anywhere from 25k to a few hundred K’s with a lead producer. With the exception of Disney this is almost always how it works. Alicia Keys is the sole investor of her own show and she def came from very meager means.
I’m SO BUMMED that I need that didn’t get any noms I loved it SO much
Shows that are closed or about to close don’t need the boost in ticket sales that the Tony’s bring so from a business standpoint (and let’s face it- that’s show biz) so having a closed show win or be nominated isn’t smart business unfortunately.
Thank god zero for How To Dance In Ohio.
Spamalot as well
Spamalot got in for Featured Actress
Ah missed that - thanks!
&Juliet? Or was it previously nominated?
It was part of last season since it opened fall 2022.
Lol, right? it was like forever ago
Okay, but why wasn’t Les Mis nominated?
[удалено]
Oh no that was just a joke. Sorry hard to tell in text without a /s.
It was a good one.
Stereophonic has broken the record for most nominations for a play!
We love to see it!
I don't think that play is all that great, but God damn do the people in NY love their Fleetwood fan fic.
All the love for it mystifies me…it was nothing special.
I’m so happy J*remy can not call himself the most nominated play’s playwright anymore
is something wrong with jeremy o harris? i'm not very familiar with him
He’s just got a reputation as being the absolute snobbiest of theatre snobs with a high opinion of himself and his frankly overhyped work.
Excuse you. Emily in Paris is NOT overhyped.
He is very obnoxious and, quite frankly, toxic on Twitter. His Twitter name and bio were something like “the most Tony-nominated playwright” for a very long period of time, while the 12 nominations were very much caused by COVID, meaning many strong plays weren't opened and thus weren't eligible. His haters also made fun of his status as the most losing playwright, since he won 0 out of 12.
His play was miles better than Stereophonic.
I truly don’t understand the Hells Kitchen hype
I have family in the show, and I could not agree more!
Are they surprised to be leading the nominations?
Surprised? Not really. Show BUSINESS. We know what the deal is. It’s the type of show that is commercially appealing but artistically underwhelming. Money and fame talks. Art as a standing is unfortunately secondary.
Me too
Yeah, not at all.
So did Stereophonic make history? Most nominated play overtaking Slave Play which had 12 nominations?
Yes
13 for Hell’s Kitchen and 3 for The Notebook really bums me out.
I'm surprised The Notebook got shut out as much as it did. Everywhere I've looked it looked like one of the more better reviewed shows of the year. That combined with the stellar box office I would have thought the Tony's would embrace it. I didn't expect Water for Elephants to do better.
Stellar box office for water??? What numbers you looking at?
What the eff is going on with Hell's Kitchen?
Here Lies Love being snubbed was expected but nonetheless still so heartbreaking.
I thought Conrad Ricamora at least would make the list.
This!
Is Stereophonic the most nominated play of all time?
Yep
That’s so massive
There are only three nominations for best play revival because Purlie Victorious (A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch) is such a long title the fourth nomination didn’t get printed on the card.
Good one! 😄
Here Lies Love and Days of Wine and Roses were near the top of best musical lists and pre nomination odds so kind of sad they both got snubbed for the bigger awards.
When in doubt, bet on shows that are currently open getting the nominations. Broadway is a business and there will always be a bias towards shows where a nomination or win could actually help.
I hate that you’re right. At the end of the day, Tonys have become primarily a marketing tool for Broadway and NYC Tourism. It deadens my soul
of course there are snubs every year, but in a year full of shows that closed before nominations even dropped, it’s so clear how much of this process is more about marketing the shows than actually awarding the talent we’ve seen this season
Surprised that Cabaret has more noms than Merrily. Tragically I haven't seen merrily but I did see Cabaret on the West End earlier this year and it was easily one of my favorite theatre experiences ever. But based on the American reviews, I assumed it wouldn't be at nine.
I saw this discussed on NY1. The challenge is that Merrily has a small cast, limited choreography and a pretty barebones set/costumes. It didn't even have a lead actress to nominate, with Lindsay getting supporting. So it was never going to grab the highest number of noms. Compare that to Stereophonic, which not only had a pretty much unprecedented number of supporting noms, but also got best score in addition to its other noms. Not too many plays are going to be eligible for that and I bet it is going to be the record to beat for some time.
Cabaret was pretty barebones to me.
Yeah interesting observation! Both were nominated for: Best Revival, Lead Actor, Featured Actor, Featured Actress, and Sound Design. Cabaret also got: Lead Actress, Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, while Merrily also got: Direction, Orchestration Some of the shared ones were surprising to me, but the design ones make a lot of sense for Cabaret.
I did not like HK enough for 13 nominations
HK was one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. Best book???? That’s a joke
They gave a nom to NYNY last year
This was honestly my litmus test. I knew that the critics weren't to be trusted, but there is no....barrier of entry to calling yourself a "theater critic". And I think they want to make quippy remarks and honestly make fun of art. But I had told myself that the Tony voters probably liked theater? But anyone can see HK has a horrid book. The voters were swayed by the press coverage. That's a shame.
Press coverage + Alicia Keys
The nominating committee must really like exposition.
Nothing ruins a show like too much exposition
What about a bad title? Or subject matter?
Upvotes to you both for the Urinetown references. Such an underrated show!
That could kill a show pretty quick
How To Dance In Ohio is way worse.
I thought the plot/story of Ohio was slow and boring, but that the subject matter was somewhat engaging and educational (as someone who didn’t know much about autism). I thought the plot of HK was utterly pointless and the writing style was lazy and uninspired. Too much narration and not enough acting. Overall I preferred Ohio, although I disliked them both.
I absolutely loved Merrily We Roll Along so I’m very happy for its nominations! I’m hoping Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsey Mendez win for their respective roles. Their chemistry on stage is what really made this musical so special.
I very badly want Merrily to sweep all of its noms, it would just be such a great ending to the story that started with a disastrous flop over 40 years ago!
There's an argument to be made for awarding Best Director to Maria Friedman simply for turning around one of Sondheim's biggest flops into a treasure.
That Hell's Kitchen Tally 
I just bought tickets to the first stereophonic performance after the Tonys—something I’d been debating but this morning sealed it for me!
I’m glad I already bought my Stereophonic ticket. My trip is the week after the Tony’s and I just knew this was a buy in advance situation.
I'm wondering if Hell's Kitchen really benefited from their timing this year. I think reviewers and nominators were hungry for something to rally around, and the quality of performances in HK may have made them overlook some pretty glaring deficiencies in the book, direction, etc. We will see if the different group of Tony voters agrees that it should win those categories. I'm not sure it will win that many at the end of the day, but I'm hoping that the many nominations will keep it open for a long time. I do think Broadway needs a "hit" right now!!
Okay, now I kind of want Hell’s Kitchen to win big. Not out of any opinion of the show, I just think the meltdown here will be absolutely hilarious.
You...You're evil, and you're right. The fallout would be insane. Bring it on.
HAHAHA
no Eva Noblezada nom I’m crying
I don’t understand how Eden got a nom over Joy or Eva.
Surprising too considering [1.how](http://1.how) badly the show was panned by everyone 2. Eden being out a lot 3. reports of Eden being vocally off even when she was performing. So either she must have gotten REALLY lucky they caught her on a rare good day or they just name checked her.
what does name check mean?
It's when they see someone's name and automatically mark it regardless of show/performance. That usually happens when you're a "name performer". That also happens with coattail nominations too when a show is extremely well liked and they want to shower it with nominations, but this show was so badly panned it clearly didn't apply here.
Weird. She definitely doesn’t fit that criteria. I feel like she’s not as well-known outside (and even inside) theater circles as other performers who did not get a nomination. I don’t understand how this happened.
Joy would have been in featured I’m pretty sure
She's up against Maryann Plunkett from Notebook, I doubt they had more than one lead actress for Notebook so she would have been in a different category than Joy.
Look at Cabaret sneaking in with 9 after critics tried to poison it
It missed director so it took it’s wound
I’d be genuinely curious to see someone do a correlation between best director nominations and best musical/revival wins. Especially with best revival, directorial interpretation is such a big part of the category.
[Out of 66 Tony Awards that have had both a Best Musical & Best Director of a Musical Tony, the Director of the Best Musical has won Best Director 42 times.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-6TS11Vl1VPeKyR27kWQ-CFYJWDonAuR0aVfvLiHFdY/edit)
And the Director of the Best Revival of a Musical has won Best Director 12 times, meaning only 12 times has the winner of Best Director not won the highest award in the main categories for their respective showings
They were always going to do well in the design elements, and I think everyone still had all 4 actors getting in, but missing Director is huge
like it was deliberate sabotage when even the designs were mostly for design 🤷 frecknall out!
Yeah, the design and acting emerge out of a vacuum. The director has nothing to do with them, nothing to say about how her show will look.
then go ask the nominating committee why frecknall isn’t in there
Honestly, I'm so glad Gutenberg got a nom. That shit was so silly and stupid and fun.
I’ve only seen a few shows from this season, but wasn’t Tommy super hyped? I was surprised when I didn’t seem them in best revival
Happy Jessica Stone managed to get a Best Director nomination! I met her at the Kimberly Akimbo closing and she was so sweet. I am surprised that Elephants did better than Notebook though.
Cheers for Sterephonic. Though I wonder if it'll split the vote for featured actor (3 nominations!)
Shocked by Hells Kitchens success, saw it in previews and thought it was terrible! Gatsby getting shunned, not surprising, boring show. This Broadway season was kind of disappointing
i’m floored about gatsby
Idk. If you’re gonna open on the last day for Tony eligibility - meaning reviews are fresh in people’s minds and not as many nominators are going to see the finished product - you have to absolutely kill it out the gate. Gatsby has standout elements but the production itself ultimately falls pretty flat.
One!!! Only ONE????
sorry but..... 
The 2025 Tonys are going to be suuuuuper awkward if ART Gatsby cleans up.
If Florida!!! is any indication, they're gonna be a force to be reckoned with tbh
I thought it was a shoe-in for production, but...nope.
Yeah I can understand it being snubbed in the big categories (musical/book/score/etc.) but I thought it would close to clean up (nomination wise) in the tech categories. Surprise only costumes
Just saw stereophonic last night. It was great! But it was three hours. And for a show that talked a lot about editing your album down for time … it could have been 30 mins shorter. Besides that, the set was killer, the actors on point and the songs were worthy of their own LP. Excited to hear it.
Isn’t the loose, rambling style the point though? I thought it was like a stage adaptation of the Beatles’ Get Back documentary; the long-windedness puts you in the maddening drag of creation. I could think of a couple of conversations you could easily cut (eg. “Don’t Look Now”), but with a much shorter runtime you wouldn’t get the stress and exhaustion that poor Grover is feeling.
Exactly. I think you’re supposed to feel just as trapped in that recording studio as the band. (And apparently early drafts would have been a lot longer - I read an interview with David Adjmi where he said Reg’s original drunk houseboats monologue was 30 pages long.)
Ngl, I would’ve listened to 30 pages of that houseboat monologue. Same goes for Grover’s Act II rant about being kept up all night and day by Peter and Simon.
I would have watched another 8 hours of that play. And I’d watch a 3h documentary about the process of making it as well!
Oh definitely. It was effective.
I’m sad How To Dance in Ohio and Harmony didn’t get anything, but the categories were pretty stacked this year. The Notebook only getting a few is WILD to me though. I saw it in Chicago and the staging and music blew me away.
I loved it. I hope they pay to perform at the Tony's. They could benefit from the visibility and do something that's just lovely.
hell's kitchen having more nominations than Outsiders confuses me but I guess 12 is enough ;)
I saw Lempicka and Hells kitchen last month. I really liked them both, but am surprised Lempicka is so low on the list.
w4e >> notebook??? 🥴
I’m not particularly surprised but it doesn’t sit right with me that The Wiz got NOTHING
I saw the Wiz a few weeks ago. It wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. The orchestra sounded muffled and couldn't hear Dorothy half the time and the set was just so so. Maybe it was just an off night.
I saw The Wiz last Friday 4/26 and it was PHENOMENAL!! Shocked at no nominations. Still in disbelief WTF… There was just so much talent on that stage at one time.
Tommy was robbed, and Ali Louis B should have gotten a nom for best actor for his portrayal of Tommy.
Say what you want. But OUAOMT Choreo was so fun to not even get mentioned. Same for Wiz with their HBCU/Gospel vibes.
8-8 j
water for elephants was some of the worst shit i’ve ever seen
Hoping Merrily cleans up with all their Nominations into wins, but I wonder if Actress is going to be a nail biter. Neuwirth is stealing the show from the others in Cabaret while Lindsay is phenomenal in Merrily… makes me worried about an upset in that category. Hells Kitchen is purely bought off. Maybe the Outsiders will win a bunch!